Absent justice: the massacres of Bangladesh’s minorities and the trial of the perpetrators

Caught between a bloody past and a blood-stained present for which minorities in Bangladesh pay the heaviest price, the US Congress has witnessed significant momentum since last March. This movement aims to introduce a resolution condemning the genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity embedded in the history of this Asian nation.

Fifty-four years after Bangladesh’s independence, Congressman Greg Landsman is intensifying efforts to pass an 11-point resolution. This resolution seeks to formally recognize the atrocities committed by the Pakistani military and its allies from Jamaat-e-Islami against Bengali Hindus on March 25, 1971, as genocide and war crimes.

This deep historical wound has been reopened by a recent report from the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council. The report tracks alarming modern figures, which The Daily Star summarized, noting widespread violence during the first six months of 2025:

• 258 total incidents of attacks on minorities.
• 27 murders.
• 20 incidents of violence against women, including rape.
• 59 attacks on places of worship, involving vandalism, looting, and arson.
• 21 cases of arrest or torture based on blasphemy accusations.
• 87 attacks on homes and businesses.
• 12 cases of forced confiscation of property (homes, land, and commercial spaces).
• 12 attacks on indigenous communities.
• 16 other incidents, including kidnapping, disruption of religious rituals, and intimidation.

Manindra Kumar Nath, Acting General Secretary of the Council, emphasized the severity of the crisis:

“The data reflects the ongoing violence against minorities, which escalated following the political transition in 2024. Between August 4 and December 31, 2024, we documented 2,184 incidents. With the addition of the 258 incidents reported in the first half of 2025, the total rises to 2,442 incidents in just 11 months.”

Recognition of Atrocities

Amidst the legislative push within the US Congress and the distressing figures provided by minority representatives, Organizer—one of India’s oldest English-language weekly magazines—highlighted the historical context: “More than five decades after one of the bloodiest genocides of the 20th century, the US Congress has taken a step toward recognizing the truth of what happened in 1971.”

The publication noted that on March 20, Landsman, a Democratic Congressman from Ohio, introduced the resolution in the US House of Representatives, where it was referred to the Foreign Affairs Committee.

The text of the resolution explicitly states that on the night of March 25, 1971, units of the Pakistani military—in collaboration with radical Islamist groups inspired by Jamaat-e-Islami ideology—launched a nationwide crackdown across East Pakistan. Code-named Operation Searchlight, the campaign involved widespread massacres against civilians. The resolution calls upon the President of the United States to formally recognize these acts against Bengali Hindus as crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.

The Worst Historical Massacres

Reflecting on the military offensive launched by the Pakistani regime under Yahya Khan in March 1971, strategic expert Sanjeev Sanyal wrote in Project Syndicate:

“This military campaign was executed to terrorize the rebellious population of East Pakistan—today’s Bangladesh—and what followed was one of the worst massacres in human history.”

The state of Pakistan was created following the partition of British India in 1947, divided into two enclaves separated by hundreds of miles. Despite a shared Islamic faith, the cultural and linguistic divides between East and West Pakistan were stark. Sanyal notes that the East possessed a strong Bengali ethnic identity and retained a significant Hindu minority. Resentment boiled over as political power was concentrated in the West, with Bengali demands blatantly ignored.

The tension reached a breaking point following two major events:

1. The 1970 Bhola Cyclone: In November 1970, a tropical cyclone killed between 300,000 and 500,000 people in East Pakistan. The lackluster rescue efforts by the military dictatorship deeply infuriated the Bengali population.
2. The 1970 Elections: When elections were permitted in late December 1970, the Bengali nationalist Awami League won 167 out of 169 seats in the East. This victory meant Bengalis had the numbers to govern the entire country—a prospect unacceptable to the military leadership and West Pakistani politicians. The elections were subsequently annulled, sparking an open rebellion.

In response, Yahya Khan deployed troops to the East. The resulting genocide claimed the lives of nearly three million people, disproportionately targeting minorities and intellectuals. Sanyal details the targeted nature of the violence:

“The residential halls at the University of Dhaka were specifically targeted. In a single attack on Jagannath Hall, around 700 students were killed. Many prominent professors, both Hindu and Muslim, were also murdered. This was in addition to the systematic rape of hundreds of thousands of women in the countryside. By September 1971, the number of refugees pouring into eastern India reached about ten million.”

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The horror of the crisis was captured globally. On August 2, 1971, TIME magazine quoted a senior US official who described the events as “the most appalling thing since the days of the Nazis in Poland.” Describing the relentless exodus, the TIME article painted a grim picture:

“Along riverbanks, down highways, and on countless forest paths, the people of East Pakistan continue to pour into India: a relentless, ragged flood of refugees… They walk barefoot, their legs sinking into the mud in the wet regions. They are silent, save for the occasional cry of a child, but their faces tell the whole story. Many are sick, their bodies covered in sores. Cholera is sucking the life from the frail bodies of others, and when they die by the roadside, there is no one to bury them.”

However, despite the undeniable scale of these historical atrocities and the horrific conditions documented at the time, formal international recognition and true justice for the victims have remained tragically elusive for over five decades.